I’m back from Akademy 2025 in Berlin, and what an experience it was.
At this point, I’ve gotten a reputation as a “big picture guy”, so that’s what I’ll focus on here, rather than the details of my experiences in specific events. Lots of other folks are starting to write blog posts you can find on https://planet.kde.org about their Akademy experiences that I’m sure will be full of juicy details!
But basically, to me this year’s Akademy felt like it had a theme: “KDE is on the cusp of something big.”
Here’s one example: at the very cool C-base hackerspace, I was talking with someone who mused that 15 years ago, Akademy was full of KDE hackers talking about the government one day using our software… and then fast-forward 15 years and our two keynote speakers are from the German government talking about using KDE’s software!
Then we had a talk from the “End of 10” crowd about KDE’s campaign encouraging people to upgrade to Linux rather than buying new hardware capable of running Windows 11. And then as if to reflect on the success of this initiative, Patrick Fitzgerald gave a talk about how to do massive migrations from Windows to Linux, with examples provided of cases where literally thousands of machines were migrated to KDE software at a small fraction of the cost of moving to Windows 11.
Till Adam gave a talk about how commercial work changes relationships with respect to his experience in KDAB, a software consultancy founded by KDE contributors. I found this talk highly relevant given that David Edmundson and I just started a KDE-focused company this year ourselves. Alexandra Betouni also gave a talk about rising to the top of a company. Hmm, lots of companies!
We heard about how Mercedes is rolling out a vehicle powered by KDE technology under the hood.
In the “hallway track”, I had a fascinating discussion about how KDE’s efforts to improve accessibility have the potential to be an industry-wide force multiplier.
And then I gave a talk myself about the big picture of all of these trends — that as the world falls apart around us, everything being on fire includes tremendous opportunities for change that KDE is well-positioned to benefit from.
Basically, at age 29, KDE is all grown up now. Our software solves real problems for real people, at scale. It works for governments and big businesses. It saves or earns money for a lot of people. Our competitors are beginning to falter and look weak. But through it all, KDE remains healthy and strong, and grows in stature.
So I found Akademy 2025 to be an unexpectedly serious conference, full of heavy topics and sharing of priceless wisdom from hard-earned experience. There was of course also a lot of fun hacking and group gatherings and renewing of social bonds, but throughout everything was that underpinning that KDE isn’t just a fun little online community anymore, but rather a player with a growing significance on the world stage.
Pretty cool stuff, I think! Personally, I get energized by working on things that matter, and boy did Akademy 2025 leave me with the impression that KDE matters.
Adventures in Linux and KDE 
Well done Nate, all the best in the future.
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KDE “solves real problems for real people”, well said 🙂
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Cool. I am a fan of KDE and been using it with Kubuntu for few years as my daily. I come from a Mac/Windows world and could never go back. But still that when I am talking to someone about a some tech question, they will invariably ask if I am on Windows or Mac. When I say Linux they are like clueless.
I hope KDE Linux happens for the mainstream users. Though Kubuntu has been great for me. We need more gamers support though.
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This echoes what I said in my talk: we need to focus on advertising ourselves. Our software works and solves people’s problems. But they don’t know about it!
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I’m not a driver but… I have to buy a new car…
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“Our competitors are beginning to falter and look weak”
I would avoid this kind of complacency. Perhaps in the “Germany bubble” thinks are looking good, but in many places (including many other European countries) Microsoft and Apple are still creating new captive customers every day by giving away free licenses to students and universities. I also regularly talk with many people that have never heard about free software, GNU/Linux or KDE. So there is plenty of work to be done, even if things have improved a lot in the last years.
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You’re right, that was probably too complacent indeed. What I meant was that KDE’s position is improving while competitors are defending their positions and sometimes slipping. It’s true that it’s harder to defend a position when you already have high market share than it is to advance, so KDE benefits from “punching up” here. I guess it just feels exciting to see the advancements that KDE is making these days. But you’re right, and there’s still plenty more work to be done.
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